


Accidental

by musicalsmarvelandmore



Category: Newsies - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxious Racetrack Higgins, Canon-Typical Violence, Idiots in Love, M/M, Misunderstandings, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pre-Relationship, Protective Jack, Secret Crush, Spot Conlon is Bad at Feelings, Unrequited Love, Worried Jack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:00:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22699813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicalsmarvelandmore/pseuds/musicalsmarvelandmore
Summary: Racetrack Higgins might be Manhattan, but he spends most of his time in Brooklyn. Then, something happens. Jack doesn't know what, and Race isn't telling. Jack has no clue what went wrong, but has trouble getting Race to tell him when the price of the papes goes up and they go on strike. Spot is confused and doesn't know what to do. And Race doesn't regret what he did, but wishes life could be different.
Relationships: David Jacobs/Jack Kelly, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Spot Conlon/Racetrack Higgins
Comments: 6
Kudos: 55





	1. Jack

The first day, it wasn’t so strange that Race stayed in Manhattan. He did that occasionally, especially after a rough night with nightmares and trouble sleeping. Jack hadn’t noticed anything, but he promised himself to make sure Race was okay that night, just in case. Almost all the newsies in the lodging house got nightmares. There typically weren’t happy reasons a boy would rather work and live there instead of with a family.

The second day was a little weird, but Jack just shrugged it off. Race was in charge of relations to Brooklyn, since he was always going over there, and if something was wrong, he just needed to say something.

That night, he tried to get Race to talk to him, but the other boy was playing poker with Finch, Henry, and a couple of the other boys. He was smoking and laughing, so everything looked fine. He told Race to come get him if he had a nightmare, but the other boy just shrugged him off instead. He was fine, he said. He lived in Manhattan, so why couldn’t he sell in Manhattan? 

Yeah, something was wrong. Jack just had no idea what that thing might be. And unless Race told someone, he doubted he would find out. Technically, he could ask Brooklyn, but if Race was on the outs with them, he doubted they’d be too happy to see him. 

Eventually, he knew Race would tell him. But still, the days passed without an answer for why he sold in Manhattan now. It just came out of nowhere, but Jack didn’t have any idea how to fix it when Race didn’t seem inclined to open his mouth about it, even as he had something to say about everything else other than his sudden urge to only stay in Manhattan.

So about two weeks after Race’s change in behavior, Jack cornered Albert, Race’s best friend in lodging. “What’s up with Race?”

Albert just shrugged. “Dunno. He won’t talk about why he won’t play poker there anymore. Think someone just ticked him off.”

“Do you think he’s in trouble?”

“Doubt it. If was a bad bet of somethin’, he’d be boastin’ to everyone. He ain’t talkin’ ‘bout it, he’s just makin’ sure to talk about everything but that.”

Jack nodded. That was about the same as what he had noticed, and he still didn’t know what to actually do about his second in command. Something here just didn’t add up, but if Jack didn’t know, there just wasn’t anything that he could do about it.

It was all on Race now, but Jack knew his brother. He was stubborn. Heck, the best option might be if Brooklyn told him, but Jack knew better than that. If Race wasn’t going to Brooklyn anymore, Jack wasn’t letting any of his other boys go either. Things might be dangerous. Sure, they also might not, but he just had no way of knowing, and the last thing Manhattan needed was a turf war with Brooklyn.

So he cornered Race later that day, in the lodging house. The other boy was smoking and chatting when Jack pulled him aside. “Racer, what are you doing?”

“Uh, trying to set up a poker game. What, you trying to ban that now? I won’t take all their money this time, I swear.”

“Ain’t about the poker kid. But I have noticed that you haven’t been playing poker in Brooklyn, or even selling there recently. Care to explain why?”

Race shrugged, his eyes shifting to avoid eye contact with Jack. “I live here. I can sell here.”

“No one’s saying yous can’t sell in ‘Hattan Race, but yous actin’ weird. You’s hasn’t been to Sheepshead in about two weeks. You in some sort of trouble? Bad bet?”

“Nah, no bad bet. I’s just don’t feel like it. I’s a big boy, Jack. I can do whatever I want. You know, a few years back you’d be leaping with joy to find out I didn’t cross the bridge in over a week. Maybe you should focus on that, huh?”

And while Race wasn’t wrong, something about the whole situation still didn’t feel right. He was himself, all-natural, doing what he wanted without feeling responsible for listening to what everyone else wanted him to do. Race would do what he wanted and have to deal with the rest of this later. But Jack just wasn’t sure what to do. It was difficult, but he doubted that there was anything he could do right now.

He needed to ask Brooklyn eventually to see if they knew, because if his second was in trouble, then Jack needed to know about it. But there just wasn’t an easy way to do that without feeling like he was overstepping Racer, which was the last thing that anyone needed to do now. When anything would come of it, it would be because Race had decided to say something about it.

It didn’t matter how worried Jack was, or the worried looks he saw all the older boys shoot at Racer when he wasn’t paying attention. Part of that helped, to know that he wasn’t crazy and there definitely was something going on, even if no one seemed to have any clue what it was. In the days since he had asked Albert, he’d ended up asking most of the other boys, on the off chance they heard anything or had any response other than a shrug. But Race had gotten too good at hiding things. Jack was tempted at this point to trap Race on the roof until he gave it up, but he wanted Race to tell him because he trusted him to help, not because he felt forced into it.

Of course, life always ended up getting in the way. They were newsies, which meant that nothing could ever be able to come easily to them, ever. Things were always changing.

The next day, Davey and Les Jacobs showed up to sell, and the day after that, the World and the other newspapers of New York raised the price for the newsies.


	2. Jack

The strike was on, and Jack Kelly was full of excitement and energy.

In order to really make a stand they had to get the other newsies of New York to stand up beside Manhattan. As soon as he suggested it, his boys started claiming boroughs. He was taking note, just to make sure they accounted for every borough and all his newsies came back, but it wasn’t until he realized which borough was missing that he frowned.

Brooklyn. Spot Conlon’s territory. And the place that Race really should have taken, but apparently his avoidance included the Brooklyn newsies and emergencies, since he was already off to Midtown.

Race was part Brooklyn. Manhattan in all the ways that mattered but he was drawn to Brooklyn. Not only that, but the Brooklyn newsies listened to Race. Spot Conlon would actually listen to Racer, and while Jack definitely had a working relationship because he had to, it didn’t mean it should be his job to ask them. It should be Race, and yet he was off to Midtown, so it would have to be Jack instead, along with the Jacobs boys,

Honestly, Jack wanted to corner him, to force it out of him. They were almost definitely going to have Brooklyn’s help in the strike, but that wouldn’t work if Race kept avoiding the Brooklyn newsies.

Heck, he was going over to Brooklyn mostly blind. He had no clue what Race had done to get scared enough to never return to Brooklyn. Sure, he’d always back his brother, but was Race just overreacting, or were the Brooklyn boys going to try to soak Jack as soon as he crossed the bridge? He had no clue, and thanks to Race, was walking into this situationwith almost no information.

Jack knew that he shouldn’t be mad at Race, but it was hard when the other boy was avoiding important stuff, especially when he was off in Midtown of all places, probably just so Jack wouldn’t ask him to go to Brooklyn at all. Usually, he would have just laughed this off. It was very Race, but that didn’t make Jack any less irritated right now.

Still, these weren’t the things he should have to be worrying about now. They were going on strike, which led to many other issues, including the safety of his boys. With Brooklyn on their side, the newsies strike should be unstoppable, but without them? There just wasn’t enough of ‘Hattan newsies to face down Pulitzer.

He didn’t talk to Davey about his concerns. The other boy was new, and barely a Manhattan newsies. Not only did he not know Race, but he was apparently leaving them to go back to school at some point. Not that Jack cared about anything that Davey Jacobs did. Because he only did in terms of he had a borough to run, and absolutely nothing else beyond that point.

Spot Conlon was waiting for them when the pair of boys first crossed the bridge into Brooklyn. Clearly he had already some idea that they’d be coming, which unsettled Jack. They should have tried to get here earlier, but he had had stuff to do.

They spit shake, exchanging last names. The two of them had always had an animosity, ever since they were little, before either of them became the leaders of their boroughs. Race had been the one real connection between the two of them, but Jack wasn’t going to ask about Race now. Whatever the other boy had done, at least Spot hadn’t reacted as soon as Jack came over. It couldn’t have been that big a deal then, right? Though to Race, it was, since the boy had gone to Midtown.

Spot expressed his doubts, with a few jabs at Jack, but that was just their relationship, so it didn’t bug Jack. They were always like this. But the important thing here was that Brooklyn wasn’t going to join the strike, at least not at first.

With that and a final spit shake, Jack headed back to the bridge, Davey already in front of him, but Spot grabbed his arm. “I’s gotta ask ya a more, uh, private question. Is he smart enough to not wander?”

Jack felt his eyebrows knit together as he nodded, following Spot a few paces away to a slightly more private place. “Where’s Racer?” Spot asked without hesitation.

Jack’s heart sunk. Geez, this wasn’t going to be good. He had thought Race didn’t want to come to Brooklyn for whatever reason, but what if the other boy was banned? What even was there that Race could do to get banned?

“He went ta tell Midtown ‘bout the strike. Yous got stuck with me.”

The words ended up coming out more lighthearted than he felt. This was finally his chance to find out about what had happened, but now, Jack didn’t know if he wanted to know. Whatever had happened, it was a big deal, and Jack wasn’t sure if he could take one more thing, especially on top of the stress of the strike.

Spot frowned, glaring at Jack. “Why wouldn’t yous send ‘im here. He’s part Brooklyn, yous know that.”

Jack shrugged. “He volunteered ta take Midtown first. Besides, he ain’t been here in weeks, haven’t yous noticed.”

“Course I noticed, but still. He’s just bein’ dumb.”

“What happened then, if he’s just being dumb?”

“None of ya business, Kelly. It’s just ‘tween me and Racer.”

Jack nodded. That was Spot Conlon, never going to admit anything. Though, this meant that it couldn’t have been as bad as Jack feared, right? Though, then why did no one else seem to know besides Race and Spot?

“Well, he’s fine. Just didn’t come over, but I think you’d know better than I do why.”

Spot nodded. “Can yous tell him... wait, never mind. I ain’t joining the strike yet, but once I do, I’ll talk ta him. If I’s don’t get a chance, can yous make sure he knows I ain’t banned him?”

Jack spit shake with the other boy. Their working relationship was definitely odd, but it was what had to be done. “Yous got it. Whatevers goin’ on between the two of yous, it needs ta be fixed. He’s been mopin’ around lodgin’ without his card games over here.”

Something flashed across Spot’s face, and Jack couldn’t read it. Spot was hard to read, but there was something going on now, and Jack just had no clue what it could be.

Before Spot could respond, Davey was calling from the bridge. They had to be getting back soon, to stand by their brothers. Spot’s face hardened at the interruption, and Jack knew they were back to being leaders of their newsies instead of being just Jack and Spot talking about a friend. “Don’t worry ‘bout it. Don’t run at the first sign o’ trouble, and Brooklyn’ll be there before ya know it.”

With that, Spot turned, stalking off back towards his borough and newsies. Jack stared after him for a minute, considering. There was something going on there, that much was for sure. But how was he supposed to know what that could possibly be?

He shook his head, shaking out the thoughts of the weird Spot and Race situation. He didn’t have time to worry about that now. They had a strike to organize and a demonstration to run.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Apparently I'm going to edit and post these chapters during my econ class. But what do you think Race did? Next chapter is Spot's pov.


	3. Spot

Spot Conlon watched Jack go back across the bridge, towards Manhattan and everything else there. Like Race. But Spot couldn’t afford to think of Racer right now. There was just so much else happening in the world of the newsies.

The strike was a big deal, even if Brooklyn couldn’t really afford to get involved right now, not unless Manhattan proved that they would go through with it and not back down. He needed to stay focused on that, not on Race and all the sorts of feelings that came along when thinking of the other boy. He needed to be focused on Brooklyn and all of his boys, even though that felt impossible right now.

Spot Conlon had never been known to be good at feelings. But ever since Race ran off across the bridge that day and hasn’t come back to talk about it, well yeah, Spot is angry. He does angry and mad a lot. Those emotions, he can handle. The other stuff though, well, he’s confused. He needs to talk to Race about it, but that’s impossible since the other boy keeps avoiding him and all of Brooklyn.

Why did Racetrack Higgins have to be so frustrating? Though, that was one thing that let Race worm his way into Spot’s life. He refused to not be there, and maybe that was part of the reason now was so frustrating. Race never showed fear of Brooklyn or let anyone boss him about, but now, he was too scared to.

At first, Spot had thought Jack Kelly might’ve had something to do with it, but clearly Jack didn’t know what had gone down the last day that Race was in Brooklyn, and Spot hoped to keep it that way. He didn’t need anyone getting involved in his business, especially someone like Jack Kelly.

Spot wasn’t sure what to do about the Race situation. Ironically, stuff like that was the type of thing he’d usually talk to Race about. He didn’t know how to get the other boy to talk to him again, or what he’d say when (or if, the pessimistic part of him thought) he finally got Race to talk to him again. But there was no one else he could talk this openly to, so maybe this was something he’d have to figure out on his own, unfortunately.

Spot had no clue how to handle this. He didn’t know where to begin. So that would just have to be an issue for later Spot.

He just had to focus on Brooklyn- because Brooklyn and his newsies would always have to be his priority, right? There was always stuff to deal with there, and he had to keep eyes and ears on Manhattan, to judge what was best to do next.

As the king of Brooklyn, Spot had plenty of things that he should do now, but instead, he watched the bridge, wishing that Racer had been the one to come over it, or that he would show up now. It should have been Race’s job to ask in the first place, and yet, he was nowhere to be found.

With a sigh, Spot turned around, walking back to lodging, a thousand things that had to be done by the end of the day, even if he was distracted by thoughts of what should have happened instead since that last fateful day Race spent in Brooklyn.

He looked for the older kids, the ones Spot trusted as his own, motioning them into a corner with a single jerk of his head. There was plenty to discuss. Just because Brooklyn wasn’t joining the strike now didn’t mean that they couldn’t be prepared.

And even beyond that, the increase in prices still was worrisome, especially for the younger newsies who weren’t as experienced. Brooklyn boys stuck together, and they’d be able to do so now. Things were hard all over.

Spot couldn’t think of Race who was avoiding him and was about to engage in something dangerous. They had a lot to talk about, but now wasn’t the time for that. He didn’t know what would happen in the future, but none of this would be easy.

But even though Spot wanted to make sure his ‘Hattan friend was safe, he had to use his brain. And while the Brooklyn boys could always fight, he had to protect the best interests of his boys first.

And while Spot was the perfect example of not being able to use his brain right, since if he had Racer wouldn’t be avoiding this side of the bridge, that didn’t matter. He couldn’t make mistakes. That wasn’t an option. He was the king of Brooklyn for a reason, and that meant he had to put his boys first, no matter what. He wanted all the ‘Hattan boys to be okay, but he didn’t have any other options. Participating in something like Jacky-boy Kelly was proposing was just far too dangerous, especially if ‘Hattan wussed out when things got tough.

Race hadn’t been over in a while, ever since that last day, but it looked like it wasn’t even going to be for a while. He had to get Race to talk to him, but they both had bigger worries now. The raise in the newsies prices wasn’t going away, so Race was off striking while Spot was trying to do everything he could to protect his own boys from getting into that situation.

It wasn’t a great time to be Spot Conlon, king of Brooklyn, that was for sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry that it took this long! Remote instruction has been... difficult to say the least. Then I kept procrastinating rewriting the problem part but we're back. Hopefully the next chapter will be up relatively soon. Thanks for sticking with me.


	4. Jack

Jack and Davey made their way back from Brooklyn. The sun was setting in the sky, casting long shadows across the bridge. Tomorrow would be the first day of the rest of their lives, starting at the circulation gates.

It was a tremendous blow that Brooklyn wasn’t coming to strike with them tomorrow, but there just wasn’t anything that Jack could do. Tomorrow, Manhattan and whoever else his newsies had recruited would stand tall, facing Weasel and the Delanceys and anyone else. They had to stand up for themselves. If they succeeded tomorrow, then hopefully Brooklyn would join them. And then, the newsies strike would be unstoppable.

That didn’t make this stuff any less terrifying. When you had Brooklyn on your side, those numbers meant something. Without Brooklyn, would they even have enough? There was no way to know. Until tomorrow.

Jack had never run a strike before and he knew that Davey, despite all his bravado and knowledge, didn’t really know what to do either. But Jack was hopeful. They were dedicated, and would fight through it all, no matter what anyone else might say. They were young, and they were angry, and they were going to get Pulitzer and the other newspapers to listen to them. They weren’t just going to lie down and roll over for the rich to exploit them and take more money out of their pockets. They could do this.

That hope didn’t make Jack any less scared about what would happen to his boys.

Right now, Jack just had to make sure that Davey got safely back to his family. Les hadn’t made the trip with them across the bridge, and his family needed him. Jack didn’t have a family like that, but that didn’t matter now. Because no matter where they came from, they were all in this together. 

Davey was too good for the rest of the newsies, but Jack didn’t think the other boy knew that yet. Jack loved his boys, but at the end of the day, they went to lodging if they could afford to and starved with a roof over their head. That wasn’t how life was supposed to be.

He hoped that Race would already be back from Midtown. It was already late, and they’d need every bit of rest they could get to be prepared for tomorrow. Jack was scared about what tomorrow would bring, and while the strike was a far more prevalent issue, that didn’t erase his worry for Race and the Brooklyn situation.

He didn’t know what to do. He needed Race focused on the strike and at his side. Race was his second for good reasons, and in a fight, there was no one else Jack would rather have at his side. Whatever ended up happening tomorrow, they needed to have leaders.

Davey was a strike leader, but he didn’t lead the newsies. Sure, everyone was struggling, but most of the newsies of Manhattan had similar sad stories. You didn’t end up living on your own or on the streets for happy reasons. Jack knew his boys and trusted his brothers. Those two things just made tomorrow at the circulation gates even more terrifying.

“What did Spot talk to you about?” Davey blurted out.

Jack couldn’t blame him for asking. After all, Davey was definitely one of the leaders of the strike, and he needed to be informed of what was going on, especially with something as important as Brooklyn.

“It ain’t ‘bout the strike. It doesn’t matter right now.”

“Anything Brooklyn does matter. After tomorrow, they’ll join us. We need to be prepared to have those newsies on our side.”

Jack cleared his throat, uncomfortable. It wasn’t his to tell. He still wasn’t sure that he knew what was going on between Spot and Race and why it was so weird, but that didn’t matter. He liked Davey, but the whole situation didn’t involve him. Jack wasn’t even sure why it involved himself, but he had to do better.

“I’s don’t think it matters. Race sometimes plays cards over there, ya know? It’s that type of thing.”

Davey frowned, looking like he wasn’t going to drop it. Jack had only known the other boy for two days, but it already felt like a whole lot longer than that. Everything going on now was hard, but Jack had to take care of it. It was his job, not just as the leader of the newsies, but also as Race’s friend. He owed it to the other boy to help him, even when he didn’t understand why.

Did Jack want Race to trust him enough to tell him what was going on? Of course. But trust went both ways.

He didn’t know what to think, what to do. Things had gotten so complicated.

Back when Jack and Race were just little boys, Jack had made promises to the younger boy, to protect him as his brother. And now, Jack was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to follow through. He needed Race at full capacity, ready to go and face the challenge at tomorrow’s gates. They had The Sun and Katherine covering them. Jack couldn’t do it alone, or even just with Davey.

Maybe it was selfish, but he just couldn’t let Race know what Spot said. Those two boys needed to talk. But tomorrow morning at the circulation gates, Jack needed Race focused on the strike and the newsies of Manhattan, not whatever happened across the bridge on one day, or on most days. Race was his right-hand man, and together, they’d have to be ready to face everything, to take care of each other and all the rest of their boys.

They didn’t know what challenges lay ahead of them. Jack had no idea what he was doing, but he had to do it good. All the newsies, from Les and Davey to Crutchie and Race, had a lot riding on this. They had to stand together as part of Manhattan.

When the bells started ringing tomorrow, they had to be ready for the fight of their lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What? I actually updated this? It's as much as a shock to me. On the bright side, you shouldn't have to wait another two months for the next chapter. Thanks for sticking with me and reading.

**Author's Note:**

> No beta, all mistakes are my own. The pov jumps all over the place without regular transitions which I hate except it doesn't work otherwise. I have some chapters already written so I hope to update at least once a week. Thanks for reading!
> 
> Also if you're waiting on the last chapter of Missing Race, I've been writing this instead. Oops.


End file.
